AQ was preparing bio weapon in plague outbreak: report

Eli Lake, writing in the Washington Times, reports that the outbreak of plague among Al Qaeda operatives in Algeria reported yesterday by the UK Sun, was actually a bungled bio-weapons operation.

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

It has long been known that AQ has attempted to develop chemical and biological weapons. Countries hosting AQ bases now have more reason to be worried about their presence.

Hat tip: Rosslyn Smith

Update -- David Paulin writes:

Finally...somebody zeroes in on the issue that I was wondering about -- whether this could have been a product of al Qaeda's own experiments. BTW, I thought bubonic plague (the same strain that decimated Europe) had disappeared long ago, but maybe not. So if al Qaeda has the bubonic plague bacterium, does this mean they now have a weapon of mass destruction?

Now there's an issue that the Obama administration will be able to sink its teeth into, perhaps by obtaining search warrants and convening a U.N. committee to study the issue.

Eli Lake, writing in the Washington Times, reports that the outbreak of plague among Al Qaeda operatives in Algeria reported yesterday by the UK Sun, was actually a bungled bio-weapons operation.

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

It has long been known that AQ has attempted to develop chemical and biological weapons. Countries hosting AQ bases now have more reason to be worried about their presence.

Hat tip: Rosslyn Smith

Update -- David Paulin writes:

Finally...somebody zeroes in on the issue that I was wondering about -- whether this could have been a product of al Qaeda's own experiments. BTW, I thought bubonic plague (the same strain that decimated Europe) had disappeared long ago, but maybe not. So if al Qaeda has the bubonic plague bacterium, does this mean they now have a weapon of mass destruction?

Now there's an issue that the Obama administration will be able to sink its teeth into, perhaps by obtaining search warrants and convening a U.N. committee to study the issue.